ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes patterns of race and ethnic relations in the Virgin Islands since they were transferred in 1917 from Denmark to the United States. While many determinants of social stratification involve the plantation legacy found elsewhere in the Caribbean, this study highlights the influences of American presence, migration, and recent affluence. Particular focus is given to the structure and behaviour of the major ethnic groups: native Virgin Islanders, French and Puerto Ricans, immigrant white and black continentals from the U.S. mainland, and West Indians from the surrounding islands of the Eastern Caribbean. Census data and other evidence suggest some assimilation and a gradual shift from a plural, more “flexible” West Indian model of social segmentation to a simpler, more “rigid” (but no less complex) black-white dichotomy.
